Present status of teacher training in the United States - ACS Publications

PRESENT STATUS OF TEACHER TRAINING IN THE UNITED STATES* BENW. FRAZIER, U. S.OFPICE O F EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OP TEE INTERIOR, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Original data wed in this article were taken from a study of 741 college teachers of chemistry located in 45 states. Of 724 college teachers, 174 have the bachelor's as their highest degree, 263 the master's, and 287 the doctor's degree. About one-third of the teachers have had courses in professional education. The median amount i s 13.3 semester hours. Twenty-seven per cent of the teachers have had previous public school experience in teaching. The median amount i s about three years. The median salary of all ranks i s $2904; of full firofessors, $4172. Twenty-two per cent of the teachers report supplementary earnings. The median amount i s $321 per year. The median age of all teachers, including assistants, i s 33 years; of professors, 46 years. A great need for research on instructional problems exists. Training equivalent to a major in chemistry i s advocated. The article discusses the teacher training agencies necessary and suggests changes in present programs. Problems of supply and demand, curricula, selection of prospective teachers, and the place of professional and of subjectmatter content receive consideration.

. . . . . .

For this paper data concerning the qualifications of college teachers of chemistry were secured from question lists sent during the course of a recent nation-wide survey to approximately eight hundred teachers of chemistry. These teachers were distributed among forty-nine state-supported universities and colleges, located in forty-five states. Returns were secured from seven hundred forty-one teachers fairly well distributed through the several faculty ranks. The institutions from which returns were received range in size from the University of California to the smallest among the state colleges. It is believed the returns show fairly typical conditions in respect to the qualifications of college teachers of chemistry in this country. Information concerning the qualifications of high-school teachers was secured from existing secondary sources including official government reports and statistics, studies made by workers in the Division of Chemical Education, and other studies. The generalizations and conclusions concerning the present status of teacher preparation in the United States are derived from the literature of * Contribution to the symposium on "The Qualifications of Chemistry Teachers" held by the Division of Chemical Education at the 80th meeting of the American Chemical Society, at Cincinnati. Ohio. Sept. 10,1930. 63

64

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION

JANWAKY,

1931

the field, survey material, and field work. Our topic, "The Present Status of Teacher Training in the U. S.," can obviouslybe treated only in respect to a few outstanding problems. Those chosen are the ones that we have reason to believe are of current interest to those engaged in the preparation of teachers; they represent problems mentioned by seventy-three leading educators in response to a recent letter requesting suggestions of problems in connection with a national survey. There are approximately one million teachers in the United States. In some way or another they must all be prepared for their work. Of these teachers, 189,222 are in the public high schools, and 78,813 in higher institutions (1). Since an indeterminate number of teachers in high schools teach, in addition to chemistry, two, three, or even four subjects, the number of such teachers has never been exactly determined. The lack of accurate information on this point and on a number of other pertinent questions indicates the great need of much more intensive study in the whole field of chemical education. The mere mention of numbers of teachers, however, does not help much in the solution of important problems. An immediate problem is the qnestion of actual conditions of supply of chemistry teachers in relation to the demand. A program of teacher preparation should provide enough teachers to meet the needs of the schools. And it should not provide very many more. Otherwise, salaries drop and the profession loses many of its best prospective recruits. There is no longer any doubt about a very real condition of oversupply in the liberal arts field in some localities. The New York City press last month camed accounts of some 6000 legally qualified teachers who are on the waiting list for jobs in that one city alone. There are one thousand on the waiting list in Boston. In Philadelphia, the city teachers' college turned away eight hundred applicants for training last year. And so on throughout many portions of the country the story goes. And this in spite of the fact that teaching is comparatively a stable occupation, in the sense that current industrial depression does not affect very much the gigantic industry that is working up raw human material into the future citi~enshipof this country. There are very few lay-offs of teachers in the profession. The one big factor that causes an oversupply is the continual overproduction in certain fields, of college graduates hungry for jobs, who presume themselves qualified teachers because they have a conventional college education. The situation seems worse in respect to liberal arts graduates who plan to teach in high schools, although it is not happy in certain other groups. Teachers of special or non-academic subjects, such as music, art, and physical education and health are still in reasonable demand. Teachers of vocational subjects such as agriculture and home economics do not find it

Vor,. 8, No. 1 QUALIFICATIONS OF CHEMISTRY TEACHERS

65

very hard to get jol5s. There is an actual undersupply of such teachers in some places. Teachers of chemistry and the other sciences are not quite so badly off as teachers of such subjects as English and history. Two years ago a questionnaire that included questions inquiring about teacher supply and demand was sent from the Officeof Education to state institutions in nearly all the states of the Union. The returns were as follows: In twelve iustitutious an oversupply of teachers of science was reported; in fourteen, an approximate balance of supply and demand; in eighteen, a condition of undersupply. In liberal arts subjects, such as English, modern languages, and history, thirty institutions reported an oversupply; eight, a balance of supply and demand; and two, a condition of undersupply. One of the workers a t the National Education Association in Washington is now undertaking a detailed study of this problem; you should be able to secure his returns within a few months. In the national survey of the education of teachers, now under way, an extensive and detailed study of the whole problem will be made. One should not be too glib in speaking of an oversupply or anundersupply of teachers, however. In the first place, there may be an oversupply of chemistry teachers in one city or county and an undersupply in anotherone within the same state. Again, the general condition in a given state may differ from that in another. Most important still is the fact that, regardless of the apparent present condition, you (theoretically) can change it over night by raising certification or employment requirements. If every teacher of chemistry had to have a major in the subject, or if he had to have the master's degree before he could get a certificate to teach, or if he had to belong to the upper fifty per cent of the high-school graduating class before he entered college work, the so-called oversupply would a t once disappear. There would be a huge shortage probably. In a very real sense, therefore, the present oversupply of teachers in certain fields is simply an oversupply of undertrained teachers. The teaching profession is beginning to understand this. Requirements for certification and employment are going up rapidly in many places. The medical profession learned how to handle that matter long ago. You do not enter medicine nowadays unless you take two, three, or four years of premedical or arts and science work and four more years of long, hard, and expensive work in a high-grade medical school, a t a cost of $1000 or so per year. The physicians do not complain much of an overcrowded profession. All of us by constantly working for improved standards in the training of teachers can be of real service to our profession; not only shall we belong to a better profession, but we shall be protected from the crowds of young college graduates who are chiefly interested in getting a job-any joband are little interested in making teaching a lifetime profession.

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JOURNAL'OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION

JANUARY, 1931

Related to this question of supply and demand is the general status of chemical education in the country, in respect to the numbers enrolled in the subject. Is the subject of increasing or decreasing importance? How many teachers should we train in the future? One measure of college enrolments may he found in the numbers enrolled in chemical engineering. The enrolment in chemical engineering in 1921-22, while the influence of the World War was still on, was 7054; it dropped steadily to 4108 in 1925, and increased again to 5987 in 1928. The post-war deflation is now well over. We may for a while expect a steady but probably not spectacular increase in chemical engineering enrolments. The number of students in non-engineering or pure chemistry in college is not known definitely, but it is much less than the number of students in chemical engineering. Fluctuations in enrolments may he assumed to correspond somewhat as between the two groups. The total enrolment of pupils in chemistry in the public and private high schools of the United States that reported in 1928 was 230,020, which constitutes seven and three-tenths per cent of a total high-school enrolment of 3,144,645. By no means all the high schools reported, but the fiercentage is not far wrong. Judging from returns in 1922 and in 1928, chemistry is just about holding its own in the high schools. The total enrolment in chemistry, as in other subjects, was greater in 1928, but the percentage of pupils in chemistry in the total high-school enrolment in 1928 shows a slight loss of three-tenths of one per cent over 1922. Physics lost three per cent during the same period. Biology alone among the saences made a percentage gain amounting to about four per cent; practically all the other physical saences, and also algebra and geometry, lost in percentages of gain. Incidentally, the greatest gains were in English, about Bteen per cent, and in physical education, ten per cent. Substantial gains were made in commercial work and social science. It would appear, therefore, that existing agencies and schools for the training of teachers of chemistry are sufficient in number at least to supply present needs. Current conditions of supply of such teachers strengthen this belief. The question of the selection of prospective teachers for training, the qualifications of the training staff, and the general quality of offerings are different matters that will be discussed separately. Selection of Trainees In progressive cities and states in many sections of the Union that now have an abundance of teachers there is a decided and unmistakable tendency to require advanced training above the hachelor's degree. California has afforded the best example of this movement for some time; but that section is no longer alone. Faced by an increasing numher of applicants with the hachelor's degree, the tendency in a number of cities on the

VOL.8, No. 1 QUALIFICATIONS OF CHEMISTRY TEACHERS

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part of progressive employers is to favor the man or woman with the master's degree, other things being equal. I t cannot he said, however, that the mere possession of an advanced degree will meet all the demands of employers. There is a distinct movement nowadays in the colleges to apply selective measures to applicants for training. The teaching profession has never in the past had its full share of the brighter members of the highschool graduating classes. For economic and other reasons, a great deal of poor material has crept into teaching. Educational leaders perceive an opportunity at the present time, whiie there is an abundance of young high-school and college people applying for training and for jobs, to apply various selective measures. For instance, the requirement may be made that a student must belong to the upper fifty per cent of the highschool graduating class in respect to scholarship before he will be admitted to the college freshman class; he must make a minimum scholarship grade in early college years before he is admitted to student teaching or to the school of education; he must reach a minimum score on an intelligence test; he must possess no serious deficiencies in personality, character, or related traits that may be readily discerned in individual conferences or in his everyday life about the college; he must pass a physical examination; and he must secure authentic and t ~ s t w o r t h yrecommendations from his high-school principal. These requirements in various combinations are becoming increasingly rigorous in a number of institutions that find it easy to be rigorous so long as they have an oversupply of applicants. I t is admitted that all the selective measures so far employed constitute very coarse sieves. No one measure will keep out all the poor students, and sometimes the rough measures employed keep out good material that could be developed into passable teachers, despite a few handicaps. But the present movement, with all its uncertainty, is an improvement upon the old idea of giving any one training and a job in teachmg who could manage to meet the low minimum certification requirements which constitute the coarsest sieve of all. The movement during recent years in the learned professions other than teaching has been toward the use of essentially selective measures. The doctors who finish two to four years of academic college work, four years of work in a medical college, and a year or two of interneship in a hospital before they are admitted to practice are pretty well selected men. Their profession is the better for it. The same idea of selection to possibly slightly less extent has been applied in the other professions; teaching is just beginning to profit by the idea. There is one method of selection, positive in nature, that is also coming again to the front. I t has always been applied informally by our best college teachers. That method is the discovery, personal encouragement, and advancement of the very few students in a class that have ex-

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J A ~ R Y 1931 ,

ceptional natural ability in chemistry. The finding of these rare souls is the chief joy in life of the true teacher. If he can divert legitimately a few such students into a life career in his own field of work, he has made a contribution of substantial value to his profession. This is the one kind of teacher recruiting that our profession needs a t all times. If the higher institutions can organize their selective machinery and guidance programs to turn a few geniuses and more scholars into our profession, they will do about as much as they can ever do by bamng the misfits, or by encouraging a huge flock of pleasant but brainless young folks to enter teaching, on the assumption that a few of the gifted may be discovered by trial and success on the job. Too many young college graduates have to wreck the classes of two or three schools before they learn that they cannot teach. We need more instructors originally well selected who can do their job reasonably well without excessive damage to the children and future citizenry of America. The preparation of teachers has to do not only with the original selection and training of teachers, as determined by the demand for workers to replace heavy annual losses and to fill new positions, but also has to do with the raising of the existing level of training of teachers now on the job, if such level is found to be too low. What are the qualificationsof teachers of chemistry? Where must we start, and how far may we go in raising the level, if it must he raised? We shall consider first the college teachers of chemistry, who must not only themselves be prepared, but who also prepare many teachers. The highest degrees of seven hundred twenty-four teachers of chemistry in forty-nine state-supported colleges and universities distributed over fortyfive states are given in Table I , following, for each rank from professor to assistant. The total number of staff members with the bachelor's degree as their highest is one hundred seventy-four or twenty-four per cent of the total. About one college teacher of chemistry in four, therefore, among these institutions has the bachelor's as his highest degree. Thirty-six per cent have the master's degree as their highest, and forty per cent have the doctor's degree. More than half the teachers, therefore, do not have the Ph.D. degree. The teachers of professorial rank only-full, associate, and assistant professors-make a somewhat better showing, of course. Sixty-two per cent have the doctor's degree. Sixty-seven per cent of the full professors have the doctor's degree. This does not strike one, however, as a particularly high figure. Professors, of course, often bear relatively less of the load of instructing freshmen and other underclassmen than teachers of lower rank. Evidently, therefore, the colleges and the universities can profit immensely by insisting upon much more extensive training and higher scholarship on

VOI.. 8, No. 1

QUALIFICATIONS OF CHEMISTRY TEACHERS

69

the part of the college teachers, especially of the lower ranks, who carry the heavier end of the instructional load. The degrees earned are usually the bachelor of science, the master of science, and the Ph.D. Roughly, only about one bachelor in four is a bachelor of arts, and one master in four a master of arts. The name of the doctorate is in the great majority of cases the doctor of philosophy; only a very few teachers reported the title doctor of science. A few scattering degrees of varying titles were reported, but the numbers are not significant. TABLE I Highest Degrees of 724 Teachers of Chemistry in 48 State-Supported Colleges and Universities Dem I

Bachelor's: Total BS.* B.A. Master's: Total MS. M.A. Doctor's: Ph.D.** Total

All

Ronks

2

N u d e r by Rank Asrorio1r Pzrccnfnec Proferror Profarso? " 4

i

Aarirlonl P~ofmrorInrlrurlor Assidan1 6 7

?

174 125 49

24

16 13 3

8 7 1

15 9 6

45 36 9

90 60 30

263 196 67

36

36 22 14

22 18 4

40 25 15

92 70 22

73 61 12

287 724

40 100

104 156

52 82

66 121

43 180

22 185

* Includes B.S. in chemistry.

** Includes 2 D.Sc.

Also included are: 1 Ph.B.; 3 C.E.; 1 B.S. in education; 1 M.S. in pharmacy; 1 mechanical engineer.

What is the level of training of high-school teachers? According to the third report of your committee on professional spirit among high-school teachers (Z),of 217 teachers of chemistry in a selected group of schools of 500 enrolment or more, 216 had the bachelor's degree, 29 the master's, and 9 the Ph.D. More than half these teachers had done work in addition not shown by the mere possession of a degree. Thirteen per cent of these teachers in the larger high schools had the master's degree. It will be recalled that thirty-six per cent of the college teachers had the master's as their highest, although comparisons are not justified on the basis of these data. Four per cent of the high-school teachers had the Ph.D ; and forty per cent of the college teachers. Salaries, however, do not vary in these same proportions. What are the minimum subject-matter qualification requirements for high-school teachers? In a recent study (3) a tabulation of some of the requirements for high-school certificates in all of the states is presented.

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JOURWAt OF CHEMICALE ~ U C A T I O H

JANUARY, 1931

The information given is useful to indicate minimum qualifications required of high-school teachers. The following quotation is taken from the study: Thirty-three states require graduation from college for secondary-school teaching certificates; one state requires one year of study beyond graduation; and fifteen states do not require graduation from college. However, in some of the states which do not requke college graduation there are restrictions as to class of district or school in which non-maduates mav be certificated to teach. The amount of professional work required (i. e., in professional education) varies considerably from state to state. The range is from 0 to 24 semester hours, the median being 15 plus. Twenty-one of the states require observation or practice teaching or both. Twentyseven states have no general requirements in this field. The practie-teaching requirement ranges from 2 to 7 semester hours, the median being 5 semester hours. So far as the writer has been able to determine, every state allows credit for this work although it may not be required.. . Where there is subject certification, it is no longer possible for the high-school teacher to teach classes in subjects in which he has little ar no preparation.. .Twentyseven of the states have some type of subject requirement for certification to teach a certain subject.

In high-school teaching, the increase during recent years in state requirements in professional education is of common knowledge. The range in requirements among the several states is, however, considerable. In a recent study (2) of 217 high-school teachers of chemistry, 173, or eighty per cent, were shown to have taken one or more courses in education. Some of the older teachers entered the work before the advent of presentday certification requirements. Nearly all the younger teachers nowadays must take such courses. The median requirements of the higher iustitutions of the North Central Association that train high-school teachers is now 19.9 seinester hours work in professional education. Requirements in professional courses in the colleges, of course, are very strongly influenced by state certification requirements. Both institutional and state requirements tend to become higher from year to year. It is probable that very few public high-school teachers of chemistry will be able to enter upon their chosen work in the future, if they do not offer a minimum of say a f d semester's work in the more valuable among the courses in professional education, such as student teaching, educational psychology, principles of highschool education, special methods and materials in teaching chemistry, and similar courses. In the past there has been considerable difference of opinion between the exponents of teacher-training by means of pure scholarship and mastery of subject-matter in college or in graduate work and the professional education people, especially those who had to train teachers of public school children. In recent years, the demands of public school employers for

professionally trained teachers, that is, those who can handle subject matter to best advantage in the instruction of public school children, have given the education people a decided advantage, since they were originally the chief advocates of such reorganization of subject matter. Lately the more thoughtful among both the professional education people and the subject-matter specialists alike are beginning to get together. The education people say they are willing to cut down on the methods and history of education, and certain other professional content, if the subject-matter people will reorganize, reselect, and readapt their material more nearly to meet the needs of the elementary and high schools. It seems to me this is the best way to settle the argument. After all, hoth sides are or, should be, working to one end; that is, the most effective development possible of the pupils in the schools. When this aim is clearly seen and acknowledged, there should he no conflict. In Table I1 is shown the number of semester hours in professional education taken by 242 college teachers of chemistry. Of the 741 teachers, 499 reported no work in professional education; these are not shown in the table. Thirty-three per cent, therefore, of the entire number have had training ranging from 1 to 70 semester hours in professional education. TABLE II Number of Hours Taken in Professional Education by 252 Teachers of Chemistry in State-Supported Colleges and Universities* Numbar of Eourr 1

All

Ranks 2

Total number.. . . . . 252 Median.. . . . . . . . . . 1 3 . 3

Numb" of Tcochnr by Rank Assorinfa

Pvofrrsar 3

32 12

Asrirlnnl

Professor

Profcsm

Inrlrular

Arrirlonf

4

5

6

7

24 11.3

51 12.5

75 13.3

70 15

* Ofa total of 741 teachers reporting, 499 or approximately two-thirds have taken no courses in this field. The median amount of college credit received by those taking work in professional education is as follows: all ranks, 13 semester hours; professors, 12 hours; associate professors, 11 hours; assistant professors, 13


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J A N ~ A R Y1931 ,

hours; instructors, 14 hours; assistants, 15 hours. You will note an increase in the number of hours taken as you go down the ranks. The teachers are younger in the lower ranks, and received their training during comparatively recent years, during which the subject-matter field of education has been largely developed. As the young men move upward through the ranks, the amounts of training in professional education will probably tend t o increase somewhat in the higher levels.

Teaching Experience Progressive teacher-preparing institutions are more and more interested in securing staff members with public-school experience. Of 753 teachers of chemistry reported on this particular item, 206 or twenty-seven per cent have had teaching experience in the public schools. Returns were received from twelve not included elsewhere. The typical amount of experience of teachers who have had any experience at all is about three years. Ten per cent of those with experience have taught ten years or more in elementary or secondary schools. Staff members with professorial rank have had more experience comparatively than instructors or assistants; as many as thirty-eight per cent of the associate professors reporting have had public-school experience. Detailed data are given in Table 111. TABLE rn

Teaching Experience in Elementary and Secondary Schools ToLal Numb"

Rank 1

Professor.. .......... Associate professor... Assistant professor.. . Instructor ........... Assistant ............ Total ..............

Nnmbcr Who H a w Exocrimrr ofHouing One Two lo FiucloNinc Ten or E x h r t Ycor Four Fcors Ycow Mole Yenrs enre 2

3

4

5

6

14 7 15 13 14 63

24 14 14 17 14 83

8 6 12 6 8 40

1 7 4 5 3 20

47 34 45 41 39 206

Told Number

Pcrrenlo p

Rpporr-

Erperi-

Tenchcrr

ma

Howw E ~ C C

7

8

158 90 128 193 184 753

30 38 35 21 21 27

There is no doubt that teaching experience of the right sort in the public schools brings t o a teacher much that the college cannot offer. If yon will look over typical salary schedules of public schools, you will find that more often than not, the teacher with plenty of experience gets a higher salary than the teacher with much more training, but with no previous experience. The college instructor who trains teachers is handicapped all through his career if he does not somehow inform himself about publicschool needs. Some one has said that one's first year in teaching is worth more than any single year he can ever spend in college. Those institutions that can approximate some of the conditions in the public schools in the training of teachers of chemistry have a decided advantage over the insti-

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tutions that do not. Here the advantage is seen of having a modern training school and a good training-school staff, and plenty of contacts with public schools, although even in a good training school there is much that camot be supplied and that must he learned on the actual job itself. I t is not always easy for the smaller colleges to compete nowadays with the wealthier cities in securing teachers, in providing equipment and laboratories, and in other respects. There are plenty of large city highschool teachers who would not accept the salaries offered by some pretty weI1-known colleges. But there are plenty of teachers with public-school experience that may be secured and that should be secured. They will bring a viewpoint that every teacher-preparing institution should strive to present to its students in training. Distribution of College Teachers of Chemistry over the Several Ranks Of 741 teachers reporting, 152 or 21 per cent are professors; 12 per cent, associate professors; 16 per cent, assistant professors; 25 per cent, instructors; and 25 per cent, assistants. A hint is given here as to one means employed by the institutions to cope with increasingly large numbers of students; they employ numerous teachers of low rank and salary, rather than more expensive teachers of higher rank. This particular situation is unfortunate; for while the best men in the institution may be shining lights, they are seen only at a distance by those who need the light most. One full professor to five other teachers of lesser rank is a sadly unbalanced proportion. Teachers' salaries and teacher qualifications are intimately related. Employers get about what they pay for most of the time. The best people will not enter teaching if they can do considerably better in another occupation. The salaries of 741 college teachers of chemistry are shown in Table IV. The median salary of all ranks excluding the assistants, who are usually part-time workers, is $2904. The median for professors is $4172, associate professors, $3304, assistant professors, $2825, and instructors, $2035. The assistants, on a part-time basis, earn a median salary of $833. The range is from less than $250 (for assistants) to more than $7750. The lowest salary reported paid to a full-time professor is between $2000 and $2259. These figures do not include salaries of teachers in colored schools, nor, at the other extreme, a very few exceptionally high salaries in the larger privately controlled universities. Salaries were reported for the annual period of employment. This is usually nine month$, but sometimes ten, eleven, or twelve. Studies made by the Office of Education show, unexpectedly enough, that teachers of professorial rank, as a group, who are employed in state colleges and universities on a nine-months' basis actually earn slightly more during the year than those employed for


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JANUAKY. 1931

TABLE IV Salaries of College and University Teachers of Chemistry

1

All Ronkr 2

$249 or less.. . . . . . . . . . 250-8499 . . . . . . . . . . . . 500-749.. . . . . . . . . . . . 750-999 ............. 1,000-1,249 . . . . . . . . . . . 1,250-1,499 . . . . . . . . . . . 1,500-1.749.. . . . . . . . . . 1,750-1,999.. . . . . . . . . . 2.000-2.249.. . . . . . . . . .

1 5 61 80 15 13 39 53 77

Salary

8 6,000-6.249 . . . . . . . . . . . 6,2504,499.. . . . . . . . . 1 6.500-6.749.. . . . . . . . . . 2 6,7506,999.. . . . . . . . . . 0 7.000-7,249.. . . . . . . . . . 5 7,25&7,499. . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.500-7,749.. . . . . . . . . . 3 7.750 or over.. . . . . . . . 1 Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741 Median.. . . . . . . . . . . $2400'

* This median includes assistants, most of whom are part-time workers. The median for all ranks other than assistants is $2904, which is the more significant figure. ten, eleven, or twelve months. The difference in salary is not great in any rank. One is tempted to remark facetiously that, if you are a professor, the less work you do in a year the more pay you get. How do the salaries of teachers of chemistry compare with the salaries of other college and university teachers? A study made by the Office of Education of 10,891 college teachers, in practically the same institutions from which the data for this study were secured, shows that the median

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salary of deans is between $5000 and $5200 on an eleven and twelve, and on a nine months' basis, respectively; of professors $4100 and $4300; associate professors, $3200 to $3400; assistant professors $2900 to $2700; instructors, $2200 to $2000. In other words the median salary of teachers of chemistry in all ranks is $200 to $300 more than the median salary of all teachers in the state-supported institutions studied. The salary of professors of chemistry is about $400 more, but these faculty members include a few professors who are also deans. On the whole, if the amount of salary is a measure of the importance of the work, chemistry ranks well among the college subjects. It is entirely possible, of course, that the outside demands of industry help to bold up salaries for chemistry teachers. The institntions could not secure men with ability or earning capacity if they did not pay fair salaries. No one pretends, however, that salaries paid teachers of chemistry are sufficient. The mere fact that most of these teachers are in the lower ranks indicates that the institutions are still struggling along with entirely too many underpaid men of low academic rank. One of the most essential TABLE V Annual Earnings in Outside (Non-Institutional) Work of 158 College and University Teachers of Chemistry* Numhrr ........

Amounl

I

AN Ranks 2

Less than $250.. . . . . 71 $25&$499 . . . . . . . . . . 28 500-749 . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 75-99 ........... 7 1000-1249 . . . . . . . . . . 10 1250-1499 . . . . . . . . . . 1 1500-1999 . . . . . . . . . . 4 2000-2249 . . . . . . . . . . 1 Over $2250.. . . . . . . 5 Total.. . . . . . . . . . . 158 Median... . . . . . . .$321

* Returns were received from 721 reported supplementary earnings.

teachers.

Full

Profe8sor 3

All Ranks Olhar than Full Profmot 4

16 6 13 3 1 1 3

.. 3 46 $519 of whom 158, or

55 22 18 4 9 0 1 1 2 112 $261

about 22

per

cent,

points in teacher preparation is the necessity for salaries suEcient to justify promising men to carry through their graduate work to the doctorate, and thus assure themselves of the thorough scholarship that is an essential element among the professorial assets of the superior teacher of teachers. Do college teachers of chemistry supplement their salaries to any considerable extent by outside work? If so, what do they do? How much do they earn? Some light is thrown on the answers to these questions in

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Table V. Of a total of 721 teachers reporting, 158, or about twenty-two per cent, reported that they earned supplementary funds in addition to their regular salary as teachers. Of the 158 teachers who reported additional earnings, 71 earned less than $250 per year. The median earnings of the 158 teachers was $321 per year. A very few reported comparatively large earnings; five teachers reported earnings of $2250 or more per year. One reported $6000, one $7000, and one $15,000. A few did not state their earnings. I t is not believed, however, that fear of the income tax collector kept very many from reporting. The teachers of full professorial rank earned considerably more in addition to their regular salaries than the teachers of any of the other ranks. The median supplementary earnings of forty-six full professors was $519; of all other ranks, $261. The men who receive the lower salaries also earn less on the side. It appears true in colleges that "to him who hath, shall be given." What do those who earn extra money do? They are engaged in almost any occupation that wmes to hand. The most commonly mentioned of the many part-time occupational groups is that of consultants, but the number is not large. The next largest group is composed of writers of books or articles on chemistry. he journals of chemistry and the popular science press are helping keep the wolf from the door of several deserving chemists. After these groups come a variety of occupations, such as beekeeping, attendance at army summer camp, work in church choirs, commercial research workers in chemistry, and officiating at football games. Less than one-fourth, then, of the teachers earn appreciable amounts of money in addition to their regular salaries. Upon their comparatively modest salaries the bulk of the teachers must depend to support themselves and their families. Too many are forced into work that contributes nothing to their efficiency on their main job. Too many times they are forced into poorly paid work that contributes to their unhappiness and reduces the energy needed for teaching. A great surgeon or lawyer does not have to work at pick-up jobs Saturdays and evenings to enable him to educate his children. May the day soon come when the teacher can say as much. What is the age of college teachers of chemistry? In Table VI are shown the ages of 741 teachers reporting. The median age of all these college teachers of chemistry is 33 years; of professors, 46 years; associate professors, 41 years; assistant professors, 34 years; instructors, 30 years; and assistants, 25 years. There is, therefore, a range of five years between the median age of assistants and instructors; of four years between instructors and assistant professors; of seven years between assistant professors and associate professors; and of five years between associate professors and full professors. One cannot, however, state on the basis of these data that

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TABLE YI Ages of 741 College and University Teachers of Chemistry Are

All Ranks

I

2

20-24 . . . . . . . . . . . 105 2 5 2 9 . . . . . . . . . . . 179 30-34 . . . . . . . . . . . 148 3 5 3 9 . . . . . . . . . . . 101 40-44 . . . . . . . . . . . 85 45-49 . . . . . . . . . . . 46 50-54 . . . . . . . . . . . 38 5 5 5 9 . . . . . . . . . . . 22 6044. . . . . . . . . . . 12 65-69 . . . . . . . . . . . 3 70 or over... . . . 2 Told n m b e r . . . . 741 Percentage . . . . . . . 100 Median.. . . . . . . . 32.9

Numbs" by Rank

Profasror 3

Asrociale

Assistant

Professor

Professor 5

4

..

..

2 11 22 37 30 22 15 9 2 2 152 21 45.7

3 14 27 27 6 10 4 2

.. ..

93 12 40.5

Indruno*

Arrirlonl

6

7

2 20 47 26 12 8 4 1 1 1

13 89 55 15 8 2 2 2

90 65 21 11 1

..

.. .. ..

.. .. .. .. .. ..

122 16 34.1

186 25 29.5

188 25 25.3

a given student assistant, for instance, will spend twenty-one years becoming a full professor since diierent individuals constitute the two groups. One can use the figure only as a good guess. The difference between the median ages of instructors and full professors is sixteen years. One is permitted the guess only that this period represents the time of progress through the ranks. The young college instructor in any case, however, who looks forward to a college teaching career in chemistry may well expect a long period of waiting before he becomes a fnll professor. The difference in the median salaries of instructors and professors is $2137. Again, one cannot say that the average yearly increment in the salary of a given teacher, or even of a group, is $146, for the data cannot be used in this way; but the figure is an interesting guess that may give one more idea of what the career o f a college teacher is like. One must remember, too, the selective influences that weed out many teachers who never reach the rank of fnll professor. Only the fittest, perhaps, survive. In any case, it is perfectly clear that teaching in college does not, for superior men, offer anything like the financial opportunities for superior men in law, medicine, or a number of other occupations. Fortunate indeed is the teacher whose temperament is such that he loves his work. No other type of man should be encouraged to undertake the long period of training necessary to attain any considerable degree of success in teaching.

The Curriculum Only brief mention can be made here of the numerous curricular problems with which the teacher trainer is confronted. The first that may be mentioned concerns the unnecessary overlapping and duplication of content

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JANUARY,

1931

between high school and college. While not all duplication is to be condemned, excessive duplication between high-school and college chemistry is serious. Some standard college texts do not contain as much as a fifth more than some high-school texts. Much work of early college grade is in reality of secondary grade. In particular, the courses in inorganic chemistry are characterized by repetition of content. A study recently came to my attention that had the rather interesting conclusion that freshmen who study college chemistry do just about as well in the college subject if they have never had any high-school chemistry as they do when they have had the course in high school. I have heard instructors say the same thing regarding their students. Here we have a first-rate problem that is worthy of a great deal of study. Duplication of content is not con6ned to chemistry, but constitutes a very real problem of modern secondary and higher education. There are movements to integrate more closely high-school and college work, whereby duplication may be reduced and time saved. For instance, it is proposed in a few places to organize the whole school program on a 6-4-4 basis; that is, six years of elementary school education, four years of high-school education, and four years of college education, followed by university work beginning with what is now the junior year in college. The whole program above the sixth grade, according to this scheme, is stepped down somewhat; the junior high school plus the one year of the senior high school constitutes the new high school, and the junior college and upper two grades of the senior high school constitutes the new college. Whether or not this particular scheme is adopted, the movement is indicative of changes that characterize modern education, and that we must consider when tempted to rely too much on tradition for our sole guidance. Another curricular problem is that of deciding upon the proper subjectmatter combinations that a trainee should take in college. The whole matter of supply and demand is also involved here. Teachers of chemistry, especially in the small high schools, are frequently caned upon to teach other subjects, such as physics, general science, biology, and mathematics. Not infrequently teachers are called upon to instruct in two, three, or even four or more different subjects. Employers are often negligent in placing teachers in the positions they are best qualified to fill. This condition is being remedied in progressive states by certification by subjects as in West Virginia and other states. Teacher trainers must cooperate in preparing trainees for teaching the combination of subjects demanded in the schools. I t is not an ideal situation, but it demands a practical solution. Teachers solely of chemistry should major in this field. With a growing condition of oversupply of teachers, proper advisement of students will assist in helping them to secure employment most advan-

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tageously, and a t the same time afford the maximum possible service to the schools. Local state or regional needs, as ascertained through studies by the institution or by the state department of education, will help advisors and students in determining proper study combinations in a given institution. Another curricular problem arises in the extraordinary variety of demands upon the high-school teacher. He is more than a teacher of a given subject; he is a teacher of young people and a member of a school community of wide interests. He will have a broad range of semi-administrative duties, and community contacts, and even some clerical work to handle. Some of his best opportunities for influencing the lives of his pupils will come outside his classroom. Charters and Waples, in their Commonwealth Teacher-Training Study, list 1001 activities commonly undertaken by teachers. Learning is specific. In one way or another, some kind of training must be given in as many of these activities as possible. Not all can be handled in the classroom; but it would be of profit for every teacher to study this list, and answer the question: "Just what am I doing to prepare my students for each of these activities?" He would approach his task with new humility and considerable enlightenment. A great deal nowadays is being said about vitalizing our courses in the arts and science subjects in high and elementary schools. In some places the term "professionalized subject-matter" is used to designate teaching materials selected and organized in accordance with the findings of educational psychology, with the experience of skilled teachers, and with the judgments of curriculum builders who have studied carefully the actual needs of pupils in everyday life. The customary logical arrangement of subject matter in some of the sciences, the topics selected, and the methods of teaching have been severely attacked a t times. Education cannot remain static in an age changing so rapidly as this. The teacher mnst study the causes for the changes coming into our schools. He can do this best by himself attending graduate schools. If he does not in some such way keep up to date he will find himself in the position of a hopeless consenrative, in opposition to almost any new movement in education; he has reached the end of his education, and his career in teaching is largely over. Inevitably, as the young teachers get their experience, the older teachers, no matter how good they once were, are going to be supplanted by a new staff trained in accordance with the needs or demands of a newer generation. The only safeguard of the older teacher is to keep reasonably well up in his own professional training. Another problem that mnst receive attention as chemistry teaching advances in the future is new changes of emphasis in the subject matter taught. Advanced training in organic, quantitative, qualitative, physical, industrial,

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JANUARY, 1931

and other phases of chemistty is growing a t the expense of other phases emphasized in earlier days. Educators are growing more and more to feel that the influence of mere tradition should be lessened in the selection, organization, and presentation of subject matter, and curricular construction put on a purely functional basis. The study necessary to make real progress in the field of curricular development is simply tremendous. The expenditure of millions of dollars in research on the matter of curricular research would not be too much; for the curriculum and the way you teach it, in order to amve at the true objectives of training young people, are the only really important problems. Problems of administration, plant, and equipment, and so on, all seem insignificant when you get into the problem of what you teach in relation to the life needs of pupils. To analyze life itself and then set up means to modify our living, is a pretty big job. The matter of special methods, in the narrow sense of instruction in devices, is no longer stressed so much in teacher education. However, there is a promising field of research in the whole matter of how to teach. I have listed some conclusions from recent studies, usually of limited scope. Probably no one of the conclusions is the final word, yet each of them gives one something to experiment with in his everyday teaching. 1. The accomplishment of project classes, measured by standardized tests, is slightly better than t h a t of non-project classes. 2. Distinct gains over the usual plan of teaching are realized by an intensive plan of directed study. 3. Aims of teaching chemistry vary widely among schools. More uniformity is desirable. 4. There is too much parrot-like repetition of textbook material in the teaching of chemistry. Broader knowledge of teachers would vitalize much of this teaching. 5. High-school chemistry cannot be taught successfully ~- purely as a memory suhject. 6. One of the purposes of high-school chemistry teaching is t o enable students to find their abilities along this Line. The ahle should he encouraged t o carry on; the pwr, to obtain the maximum benefits to the extent the subject is pursued. 7. The general principles involved in the specific cases studied should he emphasized under all cir-stances. 8. An important em~hasisin the teachina.of chemistrv is t o show the services of chemistry t o the home, t o health, to medicine, to agriculture, t o industry, etc. 9. Too many students do not learn the definitions of common terms. 10. There is a weakness in the knowledge of students of important industrial processes. 11. Few students possess the ability either to M i t e names of chemical substances from their formulas or the formulas from their common names. 12. It is futile to expect students t o he ahle t o write more than a few entire equations for given chemical processes or reactions. ~

A discussion of the status of teacher training in the United States is largely an account of one phase of an endless process of educational evolution. Changes are slow; tradition is strong. For example, even in this

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81

day of separated state teachers' colleges-the number has increased from 46 to 136 in the past eight years-the traditional arts and science institutions still remain teacher-training institutions to an extent that even most of their faculties do not comprehend fully. Two hundred nine of these colleges recently reported to the N. E. A. Committee on Articulation that of 37,000 graduates with the bachelor's degree, forty-two and six-tenths per cent went into teaching. Recent studies have shown that sixty to eighty per cent of the Ph.D. graduates of our leading universities enter teaching. The proportion may be a little less among chemists, since some enter industry, but i t is not much less. The training of teachers is thus one of the most important, if not the most important of the functions of the vast bulk of the colleges, just as i t has been for a long time. The kind of training staff members in the arts and science colleges have, therefore, still determines to a substantial degree the kind of high-school instruction we shall have in the future. Teacher-training remains a distinctive activity, therefore, that the college teacher must perform whether he is interested in i t or not. Current changes of varying significance, however, often give rise to some thought concerning the many complex factors entering into the general program of teacher training. A few items may be mentioned. The birth rate of this country is decreasing; consequently, the enrolments in the elementary schools have reached practically a standstill. However, the American people are thoroughly sold to the idea of education. The outlay for the schools constantly increases. Enrolments in elementary schools do not. Does this mean that as the wealth of the country increases, we shall expect a new era of development of our schools, with a new and finer emphasis on quality, as a result of having increased means to buy quality? The number of men in teaching is now slowly increasing, contrary to the tendency of a few years ago. What economic factors are a t work? Enrolments in teacher-training courses are not increasing so rapidly as a few years ago. This may result from a number of unanalyzed factors, such as the lengthened training period now required, the working of the law of supply and demand, and several other factors. The expense of training teachers has increased over a long period of years. It varies greatly among the large and small institutions. What efforts will be made in the future to control the location of teacher-training institutions, so that more economical programs of training will be possible? A half dozen of the larger universities have during the past ten years seriously entered the field of preparation of college teachers, with emphasis on the more characteristic elements of teacher preparation as advocated by educationists. What are the possibilities of this field? These and many other questions indicate that the present status of teacher preparation is in a period of change that may give to us a quite Werent picture of the field within

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JANUARY,

193i

another generation. I n this connection should be mentioned one of the chief purposes emphasized nowadays in the education of teachers. This is the upbuilding of a professional group of trained people that in prestige and ability will compare favorably with members of the learned professions. The development of chemical education in the more characteristic elements of a genuine profession has been largely confined to the present century. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers, for instance, was not organized until 1908, hence, as a profession, this particular group of chemical engineers is one of the youngest groups of the new profession of engineering. Today from nine to eleven per cent of the engineering profession are chemical engineers. Chemistry as a field is of course much broader than the field of chemical engineering or applied or industrial chemistry, but is being built up in the same way. The teaching of chemistry as well as of other subjects in the proper sense is also largely a development of this century. The growth of scientific and semi-scientific methods of research in educational psychology, statistics, soaology, tests and measurements, curricular analysis, school and classroom administration, school finance, and so on, has resulted in the accnmulation of a body of knowledge that has given education just claim to recognition as a new and genuine profession. Our group grows in dignity and prestige as it develops more and more not only a specific field of knowledge but also the other attributes of a profession. In the past, the large turnover of teachers, who usually serve only about five years in the high schools, led to the charge that we had a teaching procession, rather than a teaching profession. This condition is still serious, but hope lies ahead. Teaching is less and less a stop-gap between college and law, business or matrimony. To a decreasing extent, we call our occupation a profession with our tongues in our cheeks. Learning to teach is becoming somewhat less a matter of learning endless detail and more a matter of finer development of high-school youngsters for genuine living. As teachers we are more and more in earnest about building up a worthy career, with the services and rewards worthy of a genuine profession. The development of scientific research, and the establishment of norms of practice, are among the greatest developments in education in all time. Research has now become a matter of national interest. The last Congress appropriated $200,000 for a survey of teacher training on a national scale. The purpose, according to the wording of the Act, is "to make a study of the qualifications of teachers in the public schools, the supply of available teachers, the facilities available and needed for teacher training, including courses of study and methods of teaching." This sunrey began July 1, 1930. When this study and other studies of the future are completed, the line of advance on the irregular frontier of knowledge will again be ad-

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vanced, and I trust that all of us will be nearer the day when the basis for educational procedure on the part of intelligent teachers will be not the unsaentific dictates of tradition, but an adequate body of "organized, systematized, knowledge" about a profession second to none in importance to the human race. Literature Cited ( I ) Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1929, No. 14, and Bulletin, 1929, No. 38. 7, 1366-70 (June, 1930). ( 2 ) J. CHEM.EDUC., (3) KINDER,"Requirements for Semndary School Teaching Certificates in the Case of Persons without Teaching Experience," Sch. Re%, 38, 110-4 (Feb..

1930).

Present status of teacher training in the United States - ACS Publications

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